Legendary Shopping

If you enjoy being impressed by posh, chic and fashionable boutiques and stores, then Charleston is your destination.

Since the early 1700s, Charleston has enjoyed a reputation as a thriving port city, offering its residents and visitors a bountiful selection of goods, from daily essentials to one-of-a-kind collectibles.

In fact, the city was founded on the concept of trade—offering a wide variety of goods to buyers and importing even more for the local markets. So it should come as no surprise that the shopping experience is something Charleston does well.

For years, the city has been called "America's Best-Kept Secret," known only to a privileged few. But to seasoned collectors of fine furniture, silver and porcelain, Charleston has long been a regular destination.

A wide variety of eclectic shops offer Charleston's finest merchandise, along with its legendary charm.

The Old City Market, where Charleston's native vendors and artisans display their wares, features traditional sweetgrass baskets and other crafts. Sweetgrass basket weaving, rich in African heritage, has been nurtured and perpetuated through oral history, family tradition and culture. Folk history tells us that the Africans brought this craft to America. Historians are amazed by the similarities between baskets found in Africa, the West Indies and the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Charleston is also home to the fabulous King Street, which is filled with a number of familiar and unique upscale shops that are bound to delight and excite the shopper in you.

A rich heritage of craftsmen has left Charleston a legacy of beautiful furnishings and art curios. The antique shops and boutiques along King Street offer an abundance of wares that will grace your home with a piece of Charleston's past.

Shoppers at the Mount Pleasant Towne Centre can immerse themselves in all things Southern at this distinctive upscale shopping destination. Tree-lined sidewalks, cobblestone streets and classic Charleston architecture provide the perfect setting for more than 65 top national retailers and locally owned high-end boutiques.

You can also find unique gift items, books, handmade jewelry, decorative sculpture, prints, posters and more among Charleston's exquisite museum shops. And be sure to visit the many art galleries for a sampling of the city's diverse and prolific talent. During the Spoleto Festival, the special art exhibitions and arts and crafts fairs showcase a wealth of unique gifts.

Whatever you're seeking, from exotic spices to rare antiques, Charleston guarantees a memorable shopping experience.

A New Outlet for Your Shopping Needs

The new Tanger Outlet Center, on Bentonville Parkway off Interstate 26 in North Charleston, was designed with an upscale, Southern charm reminiscent of historic downtown Charleston, with its many intimate streets and squares. The 352,000-square-foot mall will feature more than 90 famous brand-name and designer outlet stores, along with a food court.

The Tanger Outlet Center will be the Charleston area's first authentic brand-name outlet shopping center concept. The outlet-shopping destination will be a wonderful complement to the many attractions, historic sites and entertainment venues that have made Charleston famous. It will give the thriving Charleston market a premier upscale shopping destination that features the world's most popular brand-name and designer outlet stores, including The Gap, Liz Claiborne, Borders, Nine West, Tommy Hilfiger, Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer, Adidas and Skechers.

It is estimated that four million shoppers will visit the Tanger Outlet Center of Charleston each year. During the 2006 Christmas rush, an estimated 1.5 million people are expected to visit the center, according to estimates. The Tanger Outlet Center of Charleston will be Tanger's fifth upscale outlet shopping center in South Carolina. The company's two outlet centers in Hilton Head and two outlet shopping centers in Myrtle Beach have been major tourist attractions for the state, attracting more than 13 million shoppers annually.

The Tanger Outlet Center of Charleston is scheduled to open in Fall 2006.

Antiques Districts

Charleston has earned several nicknames over the years. Those who enjoy antiques and collectibles know the city as the "Antiques Mecca of the South."

Charleston is the perfect stage for showcasing the treasures of the area's rich past, as well as the talents of artists and artisans of today.

For years, the city's historic district on lower King Street boasted most of the city's antique shops. Those shops remain—and are filled with treasures just waiting to be discovered.

Yet there are other places to find antiques throughout Charleston as well. For instance, Upper King Street boasts 11 antiques businesses, along with an antiques mall featuring the wares of 65 dealers. These antiques dealers in turn have attracted art galleries and restaurants, all of which combined have earned the area a fitting moniker, "the new SoHo of Charleston." The area is filled with antiques and collectibles from such places as Belgium, Germany and Paris.

A few blocks away, East Bay Street has several stores filled with collectibles—some from dealers and designers and some on consignment. Items include period dressers, washstands, chairs and tables. There are crystal chandeliers and old glass doorknobs, antique hunt prints, signed watercolors, old world posters, tapestries and rugs.

Across both rivers, in the West Ashley district and in East Cooper district, there are several antique shops, where such items as a partial building façade featuring a lion, an old clock tower from Philadelphia, garden statues and prayer benches are available for purchase.

Other stores offer a high-volume operation of American, French and English furnishings, dating from Pre-World War II to the early 19th century. Additionally, several antiques dealers offer auctions of local estate goods.

For a guide to shopping in Charleston, click here.

Skatell's Charleston's manufacturing jeweler with an experienced staff of certified gemologists, diamond, colored stone graders and master jewelers. “Skatell” her how you feel with heartfelt engraving, a special stone or a custom-designed mounting; all made to your exacting standards.

Ben Silver Visit our elegant 19th century headquarters in beautiful Charleston to find the finest shirtings, tailored garments and understated accessories. Classic style has always been our business. When unable to visit us, please browse our site or call us for our catalog: 1-800-221-4671.

Fresh Fields Village Freshfields Village is a neighborhood of locally owned businesses located close to Charleston’s sea island resorts, where shop owners and their customers know each other by first-name. Like the village greens in 1800’s, Freshfields is a center for entertainment.